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- * @Id: curs_termcap.3x,v 1.26 2010/12/04 18:38:55 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: curs_termcap.3x,v 1.27 2011/10/15 21:11:24 tom Exp @
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bilities of entries for which a terminfo entry has been
compiled.
- The <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> routine loads the entry for <EM>name</EM>. It returns
- 1 on success, 0 if there is no such entry, and -1 if the
- terminfo database could not be found. The emulation ig-
- nores the buffer pointer <EM>bp</EM>.
+ The <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> routine loads the entry for <EM>name</EM>. It returns:
+
+ 1 on success,
+
+ 0 if there is no such entry (or that it is a generic
+ type, having too little information for curses ap-
+ plications to run), and
+
+ -1 if the terminfo database could not be found.
+
+ This differs from the <EM>termcap</EM> library in two ways:
+
+ - The emulation ignores the buffer pointer <EM>bp</EM>. The
+ <EM>termcap</EM> library would store a copy of the terminal
+ description in the area referenced by this pointer.
+ However, ncurses stores its terminal descriptions in
+ compiled binary form, which is not the same thing.
+
+ - There is a difference in return codes. The <EM>termcap</EM>
+ library does not check if the terminal description
+ is marked with the <EM>generic</EM> capability, or if the
+ terminal description has cursor-addressing.
The <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> routine gets the boolean entry for <EM>id</EM>, or ze-
ro if it is not available.
- The <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> routine gets the numeric entry for <EM>id</EM>, or -1
+ The <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> routine gets the numeric entry for <EM>id</EM>, or -1
if it is not available.
- The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> routine returns the string entry for <EM>id</EM>, or
- zero if it is not available. Use <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to output the re-
- turned string. The return value will also be copied to
- the buffer pointed to by <EM>area</EM>, and the <EM>area</EM> value will be
+ The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> routine returns the string entry for <EM>id</EM>, or
+ zero if it is not available. Use <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to output the re-
+ turned string. The return value will also be copied to
+ the buffer pointed to by <EM>area</EM>, and the <EM>area</EM> value will be
updated to point past the null ending this value.
Only the first two characters of the <STRONG>id</STRONG> parameter of <STRONG>tget-</STRONG>
<STRONG>flag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> are compared in lookups.
- The <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> routine instantiates the parameters into the
- given capability. The output from this routine is to be
+ The <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> routine instantiates the parameters into the
+ given capability. The output from this routine is to be
passed to <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
- The
<STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine is described on the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
+ The
<STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine is described on the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
manual page. It can retrieve capabilities by either term-
cap or terminfo name.
The variables <STRONG>PC</STRONG>, <STRONG>UP</STRONG> and <STRONG>BC</STRONG> are set by <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> to the ter-
minfo entry's data for <STRONG>pad_char</STRONG>, <STRONG>cursor_up</STRONG> and
- <STRONG>backspace_if_not_bs</STRONG>, respectively. <STRONG>UP</STRONG> is not used by
+ <STRONG>backspace_if_not_bs</STRONG>, respectively. <STRONG>UP</STRONG> is not used by
ncurses. <STRONG>PC</STRONG> is used in the <STRONG>tdelay_output</STRONG> function. <STRONG>BC</STRONG> is
- used in the <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> emulation. The variable <STRONG>ospeed</STRONG> is set
+ used in the <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> emulation. The variable <STRONG>ospeed</STRONG> is set
by ncurses in a system-specific coding to reflect the ter-
minal speed.
</PRE>
<H2>RETURN VALUE</H2><PRE>
Except where explicitly noted, routines that return an in-
- teger return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4 only specifies
+ teger return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4 only specifies
"an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful comple-
tion.
</PRE>
<H2>BUGS</H2><PRE>
If you call <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> to fetch <STRONG>ca</STRONG> or any other parameterized
- string, be aware that it will be returned in terminfo no-
+ string, be aware that it will be returned in terminfo no-
tation, not the older and not-quite-compatible termcap no-
- tation. This will not cause problems if all you do with
- it is call <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> or <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, which both expand terminfo-
- style strings as terminfo. (The <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> function, if con-
- figured to support termcap, will check if the string is
- indeed terminfo-style by looking for "%p" parameters or
- "$<..>" delays, and invoke a termcap-style parser if the
+ tation. This will not cause problems if all you do with
+ it is call <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> or <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, which both expand terminfo-
+ style strings as terminfo. (The <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> function, if con-
+ figured to support termcap, will check if the string is
+ indeed terminfo-style by looking for "%p" parameters or
+ "$<..>" delays, and invoke a termcap-style parser if the
string does not appear to be terminfo).
- Because terminfo conventions for representing padding in
- string capabilities differ from termcap's, <STRONG>tputs("50");</STRONG>
- will put out a literal "50" rather than busy-waiting for
+ Because terminfo conventions for representing padding in
+ string capabilities differ from termcap's, <STRONG>tputs("50");</STRONG>
+ will put out a literal "50" rather than busy-waiting for
50 milliseconds. Cope with it.
- Note that termcap has nothing analogous to terminfo's <STRONG>sgr</STRONG>
- string. One consequence of this is that termcap applica-
- tions assume me (terminfo <STRONG>sgr0</STRONG>) does not reset the alter-
- nate character set. This implementation checks for, and
+ Note that termcap has nothing analogous to terminfo's <STRONG>sgr</STRONG>
+ string. One consequence of this is that termcap applica-
+ tions assume me (terminfo <STRONG>sgr0</STRONG>) does not reset the alter-
+ nate character set. This implementation checks for, and
modifies the data shown to the termcap interface to accom-
modate termcap's limitation in this respect.
</PRE>
<H2>PORTABILITY</H2><PRE>
- The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4 describes these func-
- tions. However, they are marked TO BE WITHDRAWN and may
+ The XSI Curses standard, Issue 4 describes these func-
+ tions. However, they are marked TO BE WITHDRAWN and may
be removed in future versions.
- Neither the XSI Curses standard nor the SVr4 man pages
- documented the return values of <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> correctly, though
- all three were in fact returned ever since SVr1. In par-
- ticular, an omission in the XSI Curses documentation has
- been misinterpreted to mean that <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or
+ Neither the XSI Curses standard nor the SVr4 man pages
+ documented the return values of <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> correctly, though
+ all three were in fact returned ever since SVr1. In par-
+ ticular, an omission in the XSI Curses documentation has
+ been misinterpreted to mean that <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or
<STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. Because the purpose of these functions is to provide
- compatibility with the <EM>termcap</EM> library, that is a defect
+ compatibility with the <EM>termcap</EM> library, that is a defect
in XCurses, Issue 4, Version 2 rather than in ncurses.
- External variables are provided for support of certain
- termcap applications. However, termcap applications' use
+ External variables are provided for support of certain
+ termcap applications. However, termcap applications' use
of those variables is poorly documented, e.g., not distin-
- guishing between input and output. In particular, some
+ guishing between input and output. In particular, some
applications are reported to declare and/or modify <STRONG>ospeed</STRONG>.
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